One of the leading causes of potential patient handling accidents is having an ambulance cot drop unexpectedly from an elevated position to its lowered position with a patient onboard. In such cases, injuries can occur not only to the patient but also to the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel.
The typical reason for such droppings is operator error, e.g., not ensuring that the cot is fully locked in the full-upright position, or inadvertent operation of one of the release handles. Such operator errors, although unacceptable, are understandable considering EMS personnel are operating in a busy and potential hazardous environment. Accordingly, under such pressure to perform efficiently in such an intense environment, routine tasks such as operating an ambulance cot with a patient thereon presents the potential for making such mistakes.